Review | ‘Ballad of a Player’ – Oddities that confuse, guided by a great performance by Colin Farrell

A challenging work has arrived on Netflix, which is not a trivially understandable narrative, seeking to associate the troubled emotional instability of a protagonist in the process of self-destruction with elements that defy the logic of time and space. Directed by the excellent Swiss filmmaker Edward Berger – nominated for an Oscar and who has already introduced the public to the great Conclave e Nothing New on the Front -, Ballad of a Player It is an ‘outside the box’ project, bold and, at the same time, creative that challenges the audience throughout the 100 minutes of screening.

If you enjoy films that are easy to assimilate, this is a work you may not like – but it’s worth the challenge. Within a plot that is sometimes disjointed and becomes unpredictable, with vibrant colors hinting at the feeling of delirium, there is the disorientation of a central character presenting his state of mind and reacting to what happens around him. The project, which had screenings at the Rio Festival before reaching the streaming leader, has a great performance from Colin Farrell.

Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell) is a completely impulsive gambler who is in Macau – a region with economic impulses linked to gambling, also known as the Las Vegas of Asia –, spending his days playing baccarat nonstop and sinking into his own ruin. When he realizes that his past has caught up with him due to the countless debts he owes in other corners of the world, he meets Dao Ming (Speak Chen), a mysterious woman who may have some solutions to your problems.

Based on the work The Ballad of a Small Playerby the British author Lawrence Osbornethis feature film is deciphered in countless ways, having a ‘start’ when a combination of moral lessons is perceived through parables about a difficult redemption. Within this existential question, a plot full of suggestions unfolds that are confused between dream and reality. This is a film to be open to possibilities – far from conventional.

Very similar to the premise of films like Farewell in Las Vegaswhich use self-destruction as a shield for direct and indirect messages, Ballad of a Player It’s a risky project – one that divides opinions. It encourages the audience to leave their comfort zones, but gets confused in their own strangeness.